[Talk] New Guys Impression of FLUX
Adam Glass
talk@flux.org
Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:39:52 -0400
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Hi Peter,
Those are good suggestions. A little background might help to understand
why things are the way they are, and give you a starting point for ways to
pitch in and help.
The most important thing about FLUX is that it's run only by volunteers,
including the presenters. Much as I'd love to have three months' worth of
talks lined up in advance, that just isn't happening, despite repeated pleas
for speakers. As a matter of fact, at the moment we are unable to get
presenters for every month of the year.
Regarding the website: We deliberately use e-mail lists instead of forum
postings on the site, for a simple and effective reason. It takes effort to
go to a website every day or two, but e-mail comes to you. On the other
hand all of our e-mail lists are archived and available through the website,
so anybody who wants to see previous posts can do so.
Regarding your website membership: I'll have to check into that. I get an
e-mail when someone signs up, but have not received any in quite a while.
Regarding Linux/FOSS news: There are many excellent sources for this kind
of news on the web, with full time staff members and thousands of
contributors. The best one (in my opinion) is http://slashdot.org but you
can find lots more at http://google.com/linux. Most of us read Slashdot and
a couple of similar sites every day, so there's no need to summarize their
summaries on our own site.
Newbie Q&A is most welcome on our Linux list. Any Linux or FOSS related
technical question can be asked there no matter if it's a newbie question or
an advanced one.
We have occasionally gone around the room at the start of meetings and done
introductions, but generally the same group of folks comes to the meetings
with one or two new faces each time. So it got a bit awkward the second and
third month in a row. Still, we should revive it every so often.
Advertising would be quite helpful, but I think Meetup.com charges money.
We don't collect any so that route may not be available to us. If you (or
anybody else) know of free advertising opportunities and can volunteer to
handle them, please send me an e-mail.
Same for CDs. Anybody who wishes to burn them and bring them to meetings is
most welcome to do so, though unfortunately FLUX can't supply the blank CDs.
I should point out that many people have done this in the past and it's
always been well received.
We're always happy to mention employment requests at meetings, just find me
beforehand and I'll make sure it happens. We also have a jobs e-mail list.
However it's also a good idea to e-mail me when you post to the jobs list
... it's approval queue is filled with spam. I have to review about a
hundred of them per day and generally there are only one or two real
postings per month right now. That means it's easy for me to miss a valid
post.
Our challenge is to find ways to make FLUX better without spending money or
taking a lot of anybody's time ... because just about everybody is busy
these days, and volunteer time has been harder and harder to come by in the
last couple of years.
--Adam
On 6/26/07, Peter Capazzi <pcapazzi@dwcsolutions.com > wrote:
>
> I'm new to flux and have only attended the past few meetings. I noticed
> the SlamSpam email list that was only active until Jun 8th to post
> suggestions about Flux. I noticed that there was no discussion about the
> future of FLUX afterwards.
>
> Here are some comments/suggestions concerning FLUX from my viewpoint:
>
> 1) The Web Site - This should be updated more frequently. I've seen it
> only updated within 48 hours of the meeting during the past 3 months. Also,
> is there something we can do to give the site a little more of a
> heartbeat? Maybe some RSS feeds? Integrated forums instead of the mailing
> lists? Web-based IRC access? Presentation download/link area?
>
> 2) Web Sites Membership - I think I've submitted a form for an ID twice
> during the past 3 months and still haven't been approved... what's going on
> here?
>
> 3) 3 Months of Meetings (Related to suggestion 1) - I would suggest that
> there be topics clearly defined for 3 months in advance... and push hard to
> keep 3 months ahead of the game. I'm a newb to linux and C programming but I
> love what I'm learning whether if it's about understanding run-levels or
> making 3d boxes with OpenGL. If you want me to talk about things I've
> learned so far I will (I can use the practice).
>
> 4) Linux News - talk about linux/FOSS in the news over the past month.
> There seems to be a lot of turmoil going on in the world of FOSS (IMHO).
> There's a new GPL version out... microsoft is making deals Novell and
> others... patent suits... etc. What do we need to know about this? Is there
> something that we who believe in FOSS should be doing (keep in mind, I'm
> working on converting from MS to FOSS). What new distributions have been
> released (distro watch). What cell phone has Linux now? Summary of
> articles in Linux publications (linux Joural, linux Format, etc)
>
> 5) Newbie Q&A - are there newbs in the group that have questions about
> something?
>
> 6) Get to know the neighbors - Maybe introductions of new members, and
> even existing ones, of maybe what they do for a living. How/where they use
> linux. What they want to learn... what they have learned and how it's helped
> them... etc.
>
> 7) Advertise - Maybe list the group as a meetup on meetup.com. I was
> reading an email about related groups in the area... maybe ask to see if we
> can get a link to us, or mention us in their meetings.
>
> 8) Bring some CD's to hand out to anyone... maybe the top 5 distributions
> as per distrowatch... Live versions and installs...
>
> 9) Employment requests - Is there an employer at the meeting? Maybe a
> member of the group knows of an IT position that could of interest to
> people? (P.S. Are there any Data Analysts reading this? My company is
> looking for one).
>
> Ok.. enough from me... what do you guys think?
>
> EOF :)
>
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Hi Peter,<div><br> </div><div>Those are good suggestions. A little background might help to understand why things are the way they are, and give you a starting point for ways to pitch in and help.
</div><div><br> </div><div>The most important thing about FLUX is that it's run only by volunteers, including the presenters. Much as I'd love to have three months' worth of talks lined up in advance, that just isn't happening, despite repeated pleas for speakers. As a matter of fact, at the moment we are unable to get presenters for every month of the year.
</div><div><br> </div><div>Regarding the website: We deliberately use e-mail lists instead of forum postings on the site, for a simple and effective reason. It takes effort to go to a website every day or two, but e-mail comes to you. On the other hand all of our e-mail lists are archived and available through the website, so anybody who wants to see previous posts can do so.
</div><div><br> </div><div>Regarding your website membership: I'll have to check into that. I get an e-mail when someone signs up, but have not received any in quite a while.</div><div>
<br> </div><div>Regarding Linux/FOSS news: There are many excellent sources for this kind of news on the web, with full time staff members and thousands of contributors. The best one (in my opinion) is
<a href="http://slashdot.org" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">http://slashdot.org</a> but you can find lots more at <a href="http://google.com/linux" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://google.com/linux</a>. Most of us read Slashdot and a couple of similar sites every day, so there's no need to summarize their summaries on our own site.
</div><div><br> </div><div>Newbie Q&A is most welcome on our Linux list. Any Linux or FOSS related technical question can be asked there no matter if it's a newbie question or an advanced one.
</div><div><br> </div><div>We have occasionally gone around the room at the start of meetings and done introductions, but generally the same group of folks comes to the meetings with one or two new faces each time. So it got a bit awkward the second and third month in a row. Still, we should revive it every so often.
</div><div><br> </div><div>Advertising would be quite helpful, but I think <a href="http://Meetup.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">Meetup.com</a> charges money. We don't collect any so that route may not be available to us. If you (or anybody else) know of free advertising opportunities and can volunteer to handle them, please send me an e-mail.
</div><div><br> </div><div>Same for CDs. Anybody who wishes to burn them and bring them to meetings is most welcome to do so, though unfortunately FLUX can't supply the blank CDs. I should point out that many people have done this in the past and it's always been well received.
</div><div><br> </div><div>We're always happy to mention employment requests at meetings, just find me beforehand and I'll make sure it happens. We also have a jobs e-mail list. However it's also a good idea to e-mail me when you post to the jobs list ... it's approval queue is filled with spam. I have to review about a hundred of them per day and generally there are only one or two real postings per month right now. That means it's easy for me to miss a valid post.
</div><div><br> </div><div>Our challenge is to find ways to make FLUX better without spending money or taking a lot of anybody's time ... because just about everybody is busy these days, and volunteer time has been harder and harder to come by in the last couple of years.
</div><div><br> </div><div>--Adam</div><div><br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 6/26/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Peter Capazzi</b> <<a href="mailto:pcapazzi@dwcsolutions.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
pcapazzi@dwcsolutions.com
</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0;margin-left:0.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2">I'm new to flux and
have only attended the past few meetings. I noticed the SlamSpam email list that
was only active until Jun 8th to post suggestions about Flux. I noticed that
there was no discussion about the future of FLUX afterwards.
</font></span></div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2"><span></span></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2"><span>Here are some comments/suggestions concerning FLUX from
my viewpoint: </span></font></span></div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2"></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2">1) The Web Site
- <span>This should be updated more frequently.
</span>I've seen it only updated within 48 hours of the meeting<span> during the past 3 months</span>. <span>Also, i</span>s there something we can do to give the
site a little more of a heartbeat? Maybe some RSS feeds? Integrated forums
instead of the mailing lists? <span>Web-based IRC
access? </span>Presentation download/link area?</font></span></div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2"></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2">2) Web Sites
Membership - I think I've submitted a form for an ID twice during the past 3
months and still haven't been approved... what's going on
here?</font></span></div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2"></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Arial"><font size="2">3) 3 Months of
Meetings (Related to suggestion 1) - I would suggest that there be topics
clearly defined for 3 months in advance... and push hard to keep 3 months ahead
of the game. I'm a newb to linux and C programming but I love what I'm learning
whether if it's about understanding run-levels or making 3d boxes with
OpenGL. <span>If you want me to talk about things
I've learned so far I will (I can use the practice).
</span></font></font></span></div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2"></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2">4) Linux News - talk
about linux/FOSS in the news over the past month. There seems to be a lot of
turmoil going on in the world of FOSS<span>
(IMHO)</span>. There's a new GPL version out... microsoft is making deals Novell
and others... patent suits... etc. What do we need to know about this? Is there
something that we who believe in FOSS should be doing (keep in mind, I'm working
on converting from MS to FOSS). What new distributions have been released
(distro watch). <span>What cell phone has Linux
now? </span>Summary of articles in Linux publications (linux Joural, linux
Format, etc)</font></span></div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2"></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2">5) Newbie Q&A -
are there newbs in the group that have questions about something?
</font></span></div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2"></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2">6) Get to know the
neighbors - Maybe introductions of new members, and even existing ones, of maybe
what they do for a living. How/where they use linux. What they want to learn...
what they have learned and how it's helped them... etc.</font></span></div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2"></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2">7) Advertise - Maybe
list the group as a meetup on <a href="http://meetup.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">meetup.com</a>. I was reading an email about related
groups in the area... maybe ask to see if we can get a link to us, or mention us
in their meetings. </font></span></div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2"></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2">8) Bring some CD's
to hand out to anyone... maybe the top 5 distributions as per distrowatch...
Live versions and installs... </font></span></div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2"></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2"><span>9) Employment requests - Is there an employer at the
meeting? Maybe a member of the group knows of an IT position that could of
interest to people? (P.S. Are there any Data Analysts reading this? My company
is looking for one). </span></font></span></div>
<div><span><font face="Arial" size="2"><span></span></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><span>Ok.. enough from me... what do you guys think?
</span></font></font></span></div>
<div><span><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><span></span></font></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><span></span>EO<span>F</span>
:)<span>
</span></font></font></span></div></div></div>
</blockquote></div><br> </div>
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